RT: To those rankholics

jiangliu

RT from GMATClub.

Guys i got a tweet today and it links to this interesting GMATClub post. Thought i might be useful to those "rankholics".


Dude, nice chart - but where is Haas, for example? I do love Ross too, but it's debatable whether it's Top10 over, say, Berkeley.

It's funny, though, to see how all of us tend to make a serf-serving argument about the "Top X" of our desired school. I saw a very funny - and spot-on - definition on Business Week forum:

"The label M7 is a far less official term than "ivy league".

The ivy league itself is an athletic conference in which members set high standards for student athletes. People have come to associate it with academics.

The forum legend is that "M7" was coined by a Columbia dean who referred to a meeting of top business schools. It is a challenge to find any business school that uses that term in their admissions materials or websites (contrast this with the use of the 'ivy league' name).

To be blunt, people use these terms to associate their schools with better ranked schools. How often do you hear HBS bragging about being in the M7? Or Yale reminding people it's in the Ivy League?

Here's a quick guide:

If someone describes their school as the top ranked school, they go to HBS or Stanford
If someone says they go to a "Top 3" school, they go to Wharton
If someone says they go to a "Top 5" school, its either Chicago, Kellogg, or MIT Sloan
If someone says they're in the "M7", they go to Columbia
If someone says "Top 10", they mean Tuck, Ross, Haas, or <insert whatever school you insist belongs in the top ten, thus proving my point".


My opinion? It doesn't really matter. As long as it is a "brand-name" - and the list is known (it's the "Top 10 Plus" (about 15-16, actually) - you can ge


t anywhere you want. It's all up to you, your ambition and ability to (net)work hard.

Knockoff

indeed！

askwind

interesting